US EditionPress Freedom Worldwide Is at Lowest Level in 25 Years, Watchdog Group Warns
More than half of the 180 countries ranked now fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories, RSF said.
- In its annual index, RSF warned that press freedom has reached its lowest level in 25 years, with "In 25 years, the average score for all the countries studied has never been so low," the NGO said.
- The proportion of the global population living in countries with a "good" press freedom rating has plummeted from 20% to "less than 1%", with only seven nations in northern Europe, led by Norway, maintaining this high standard.
- Dropping seven places to 64th, the United States received a "problematic" rating between Botswana and Panama, while the NGO described President Donald Trump's attacks on the press as "systematic," citing journalist Mario Guevara's detention.
- RSF highlighted dramatic falls for El Salvador and Georgia due to an "escalation of repression", while Niger dropped 37 places to 120th amid deterioration of press freedom in the Sahel region.
- By contrast, Syria climbed 36 places to 141st following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime, though Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, China, and Eritrea remain at the bottom of the ranking, with Eritrea ranked 180th.
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Reporters Without Borders announced its annual press freedom ranking on Thursday, 30 April, and warns about its overall deterioration.
At the top of the list, another year, is Norway, the only country to get an "excellent" rating (92.72 out of 100), followed by the Netherlands, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.
Syria records its largest-ever jump in the 2026 Press Freedom Index: RSF
Damascus, April 30 (SANA) Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its 2026 World Press Freedom Index, noting a significant improvement for Syria, which climbed 36 places to 141st position, up from 177th in the previous year. The organization stated that Syria recorded its largest-ever rise in the rankings, attributing the improvement to developments following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorial regime in December 2024, which ended dec…
Press freedom at lowest level in 25 years, warns Reporters Without Borders
Press freedom has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, the media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned in its annual survey of conditions for journalists in 180 countries.
Less than one per cent of the world's population lives in a country where the NGO considers the situation of press freedom "good".
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